Alex Hoskyn had an idea rooted in connection: setting aside tables in coffee shops for people to simply talk.

The idea has spread to approximately 800 venues, including hospitals and libraries, in the UK.

The goal is simply about a daily conversation to brighten a person's day.

Talking to a stranger—voluntarily—in places like a coffee shop may sound foreign to some people.

That’s precisely the idea that Alex Hoskyn had—not to promote friendship or long-term connections but, rather, to boost human interaction.

Her nonprofit effort, Chatty Café, addresses social wellness in the UK, something hatched from her personal experience in being a new mother in January 2016 while simultaneously working on a social work degree. Hoskyn found that the mother-baby groups in Manchester weren’t a fit for her, as she was the only member not on maternity leave.

“It was just a bit of a strange time,” she told me. She spent her days pushing her stroller around the town center, and, despite being around people, she had little human interaction. “It made me think, There must be so many people that actually go out of the house but, not getting interaction, they feel invisible, which I suppose is how I felt,” she said.

One specific moment solidified the idea. After another long day of little interaction,........

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